Self-closing door hinge



Nov. 1, 1960 R. E. sLoPA ET An.

SELF-CLOSING DOOR HINGE Filed March 7, 1958 im ..4 d'

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United States; Patent f C@ SELF-'CLOSIN G DOOR HINGE Robert Earl Slopaand George W. Slopa, both of West Dggns St., Harvard, Ill.

Filed Mar. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 719,805

6 Claims. (Cl. 16-154) This invention relates to door xtures andparticularly to a self-closing door hinge.

The present invention is an improvement over the selfclosing door hingedisclosed in our Patent No. 2,718,026, issued September 20, 1955. Thedoor hinge in that patent is of the gravity-operated type and includes adoor support shaft and cam and follower means for raising the shaft asthe door is swung away from its closed position whereby the weight ofthe door is operative through the cam and follower means to normallyreturn the door to its closed position. Such gravity-operated hingeswork well with conventional doors which are relatively heavy. However,some difficulty is encountered when using gravity-operated hinges withrelatively light weight doors. When such light weight doors aresubjected to drafts, the doors tend to swing open and do not provide atight closure for the door opening.

An important object of this invention is to provide an improvedself-closing door hinge for use with light weight doors which overcomethe aforementioned diniculties.

A more particular object of this invention is to provide a cam-operatedself-closing door hinge having a vertically -slidable and rotatable doorsupport shaft, cam means engageable with the shaft for moving the sameaxially when the door is moved away from a closed position, land springmeans engageable with the shaft for yieldably urging the same in adirection to return the door to its closed position.

Another object of this invention is to provide a selfclosing door hingein accordance wit-h the foregoing object in which the spring iscompletely enclosed within the hinge structure and wherein provision ismade for adjusting the spring to enable accurate control of the forceapplied to the door to close the same.

These, together with various ancillary objects and advantages of thisinvention will be more readily'appreciated as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description when takenin connection wit-h the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a door and frame structurehaving the operator of the present invention mounted thereon; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional View through thedoor operator and illustrating the same mounted on a door fra-me.

The self-closing door hinge of the present invention is specificallyadapted for use with relatively light weight doors to assure properclosing of the doors when the latter are subjected to drafts and thelike. In the specilic embodiment illustrated herein, the door hinges,designated generally by the number 10, are utilized to swingably supportflexible rubber doors 11.

The door hinges 10 are adapted to be mounted in the upper corner of adoor frame 12 to swingably support the doors 11 thereon. The hinge 10includes a housing having -a bottom wall 13, opposed side walls 14 andan arcuate end wall 15. Mounting flanges 16 and 17 ,p 2,958,090 PatentedNov. l, 1960 are provided on the bottom wall and on the upper edge ofthe end Wall and are arranged to be secured by suitable fasteners (notshown) to the door frame. f

A door support shaft 21 is slidably and rotatably supported in thebottom wall 13 of the housing and a cam member 22 isrrigidly secured tothe upper end of the shaft 21, internally of the housing. The cam member22 has a cam track formed thereon including a seat 22a and an annularcam surface 22h which curves downwardly from the seat to a low point onthe cam member designated 22e. A roller 23 is mounted on an arm 24 forrotation about an axis perpendicular to the shaft 21 and engages the camtrack on the cam 22 to support the latter thereon. In the closedposition of the door, the seat 22a of the cam track rests on the roller23 and `as the door is swung away from its closed position, the camrides upwardly on the roller to thereby raise the shaft 21.

The shaft 21 extends downwardly from the housing and is slidably androtatably supported at its lower end in a lower bearing 27, alsoconveniently attached to the frame 12. The door 11 is attached to theshaft for movement therewith. A brace arm is provided for attaching thellexible rubber door to the shaft 21 and, as best shown in Figure l, thebrace arm includes an angulated tubular member having a Vportion 31attached to the shaft below ,the housing and extending upwardly andoutwardly therefrom and a horizontally extending portion 32 whichprojects to the free edge of the door. A flange 33 is welded to theshaft 21 and to the portions 31 and 32 of the support arm to enableattachment of the flexible rubber door 11 thereto, as by fasteners 34. Aplate 35 is welded to the portion 31 of the arm and extends upwardlytherefromvto at least partially close the opening between the arm andthe door hinge housing. As is apparent from Fig. 2, the plate 35 isnotched to receive the door hingerhousing and suicient clearance isprovided between the plate and the bottomof the door hinge housing andalso between the` plate and the top of the door frame to permit raisingand lowering of the door as the latter swings between its open,

and closed positions. A resilient sealing gasket 37 is affixed to thetop ofthe door frame and is arranged to engage the door when the latteris in its closed position to thereby seal the interface between the doorframe and the top of the door. A similar sealing gasket 38 is attachedto the side of the door frame and extends between the frame and theshaft 21 to seal the interface therebetween.

The aforedescribed door construction is relatively light in weight and.the force applied by such doors to the cam and roller operator isfrequently insufficient to maintain the doors in a closed position, whenthe doors are subjected to ydrafts or winds. In accordance with thepresent invention, provision is made for increasing the force suppliedto the lcam and roller arrangement for returning the door to its closedposition. As best shown in Fig. 2, the shaft 21 is of tubularconstruction and is open at the upper end thereof. An elongatedcompression spring 41 extends into the upper portion of the tubularshaft 21 and the upper end thereof abuts against a xed stop, such as thetop of the door frame. The other end of the spring engages a membercarried by the shaft 21 so as to apply the axial thrust of the spring 41to` the shaft in a direction to urge the shaft downwardly and therebyincrease the force supplied to the roller and cam arrangement to returnthe door to its closed position. As shown in Fig. 2, a rod 42 isdisposed in the lower portion of the shaft and a thrust bearing 43 isinterposed between the end of the rod and the adjacent end of the spring41 so as to apply the axial thrust of the spring to the rod withoutcausing any twisting or torsion in the spring, as the rod is rotated andadjustment thereof and a lock nut` 45` isp-threaded on the portion 42ayand arranged to engage' the end of the shaft 21, to lock the rod in apreselected adjustedI position relative thereto.

From the foregoing it is apparent thatr the spring 41.V

will urge the shaft 21 and the door 11 downwardly to thereby increasethe force applied to the roller andcam arrangement to return the door toitsv closed position.`

The thrust washer 43 applies the axial thrust of the spring 41 to theshaft 21, without imparting the torsion of the spring thereto. It isadditionally to be noted that the spring 41 and rod 42 are compleelyenclosed within the shaft 21 and` the housing and the arrangement issuchthat the overall size ofthe self-closing door hinge is not increased bythe addition of the spring arrangement for closing the same.

We claim:

1. A self-closing door hinge comprising a hinge bracket adapted forattachment to a door frame, a vertically disposed tubular door supportshaft slidably and rotatably mounted in said bracket, cam and followermeans operatively connecting said slraft and bracket for moving saidshaft axially upwardly when said shaft is turned in either directionfrom a preselected angular position thereof, an elongated compressionspring extending into the upper end of said shaft, a rod mounted in thelower portion of said shaft for adjustment longitudinally thereof, and athrust bearing interposed between said rod and said spring to rotatablyinterconnect the same whereby said spring isV operative to yieldablyurge said shaft downwardly and thereby normally return said shaft tosaid preselected angular position.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said rod is threadedly connectedto said shaft, and means for selectively locking said rod to said shaftin a preselectedad-A justed position thereof.

3. A self-closing door hinge comprising a housing having a bottom wall,opposed side walls and anendV wall adapted for attachment to a doorframe, a tubular door support shaft slidably and rotatably mounted insaid bottom Iwall and extending therebetween, a cam on Vsaid shaft insaid housing, a roller mountedton said housing and engageable with saidcam and operative to move said shaft axially upwardly as the shaft isrotated from a preselected angular position thereof, an elongated springextending into the upper endof said shaft, arod extending upwardly intosaid shaft from the lower end thereof, Y

and a thrust bearinginterposedbetween said springand said rod forrotatably interconnecting said spring and shaft and for applying thespring pressure to the shaft to urge the shaft downwardly and therebynormally return the shaft to said preselected angular position.

4. A self closing door hinge comprising an elongated door support shaft,a door secured to said shaft and movable therewith, a first hingebracket adapted for attachment to a door frame and slidably androtatably supporting the upper end of said shaft, a second hinge bracketadapted for attachment to a door frame and slidably and rotatablysupporting the lower end of the shaft, cam and follower meansoperatively connecting said shaft and said first hinge bracket formoving said shaft axially upwardly as it is turned in either directionfrom a preselected angular position thereof, a coil springl disposedaxially of said shaft to be guidably supported thereby and having oneend adapted to engage a stationary abutment, an adjustable stopconnected to the lower end of said shaft for adjustment relative to theshaft in a direction axially thereof, a thrust bearing rotatablyconnecting the other end of said spring to said adjustable stop to applythe spring pressure to said shaft to urge the shaft axially downwardlyand thereby normally return the shaft and door to said preselectedangular position.

5. A self'closing door hinge comprising, upper and lower hinge bracketsadapted for attachment toa door frame, an elongated tubular door supportshaft mounted for vertical sliding and rotary movement in said upper andlower hinge brackets, a door attached to said shaft for movementtherewith, cam and follower means on the upper end of said rst shaft andsaid upper hinge bracket for moving said shaft axially upwardly when theshaft is turned from a preselected angular position thereof, springmeans extending into the upper end of said shaft to be substantiallyenclosed thereby and adapted for engagement at its upper end with thedoor frame, and means connecting the other end of said spring to saidshaft whereby the spring yieldably urges the shaft downwardly andsupplements the weight of the door to normally return the shaft to apreselected angular position.

6. A self closing door hinge comprising, upper and lower hinge bracketsadapted for attachment to a door frame, an elongated tubular doorsupport shaft mounted for vertical sliding and rotary movement in saidupper and lower hinge brackets, a door attached to said shaft formovement therewith, camV and follower means on the upper end of saidfirst shaft and said upper hinge bracket for moving said shaft axiallyupwardly when the shaft is turned from a preselected angular positionthereof, spring means extending into the upper end of said shaft to besubstantially enclosed thereby and adapted for engagement at its upperend with the door frame, an adjustable stop attached to said shaftadjacent its lower end, and a thrust bearing interposed between saidstop and the lower end of said spring whereby the spring yieldably urgesthe shaft downwardly and supplements the weight ofthe door to normallyreturn the shaft to a preselected angular position.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS379,921 Wolf Mar. 20, 1888 894,442 Kalsow July 28, 1908 1,056,171 HenryMar. 18, 1913 2,685,102 Forkey Aug. 3, 1954 2,718,026 Slopa et al Sept.20, 1955

